It’s actually kinda crazy and it again proves that vegan cheese can be absolutely amazing. Have this dairy-free cream cheese on your favorite bagel or enjoy it with some veggie sticks or crackers. Or stir it into your pasta sauce for a change.

Soak the cashews in water for at least 4 hours. If you want to make it easier for your blender you can also soak them overnight.

Drain the cashews and put them in a high speed blender together with the unsweetened soy yogurt, the garlic, the nutritional yeast, the lemon juice, salt, and the herbes de Provence.

Process until smooth. This will take about 3-4 minutes depending on your blender. You want the cashew cream cheese to be super smooth without any chunks.

Season with black pepper and stir in the fresh chives and cress. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

It’s best to soak the cashews for at least 4 hours. If you want to make it a little bit easier for your blender, you can also soak them overnight. For best results, you should use a high speed blender as you want the cashew cream cheese to get really creamy and smooth. Be patient, it will take a while!

If you’re in a hurry, you could also get away with soaking the cashews for 20 minutes in boiling water. However, the blending process will take a bit longer this way. I really recommend soaking the cashews for at least 4 hours if you have enough time though. They will be easier to blend and the result will be creamier.

Please don’t cut down the recipe to a smaller batch size. The problem is that you won’t be able to process the cashews in your blender if you’re using less cashews because they will be stuck under the blades. However, it’s not a problem to double the recipe. It will actually be even easier for your blender to process everything into a creamy vegan cream cheese alternative if you double the recipe.

It’s really important to use unsweetened plant-based yogurt. Nothing with flavor and sugar in it! I’ve tried using plain lightly sweetened soy yogurt before and I didn’t like the taste of the vegan cream cheese at all. You can definitely taste the difference between sweetened and unsweetened yogurt.

My favorite plant-based yogurt for this recipe is unsweetened soy yogurt. But you could also use any other unsweetened plant-based yogurt you can find, such as almond or coconut. I’ve tried this cashew cream cheese with unsweetened coconut yogurt and it worked really well too.

If you want you can also play around with the herbs a little bit. I also love adding some sun-dried tomatoes for a change. Or you could use the base to make a sweet cream cheese by adding blueberries, strawberries, or any other berries.

Cashew cream cheese freezes really well, so you could just make a bigger batch and freeze it for later. Freeze it in a small container and it will last in the freezer for around 2-3 months.